I. Field
The present invention relates generally to the use, service, and maintenance of industrial machinery and heavy equipment, and more particularly, to a system for dynamically assigning regional groups and service providers to service industrial machinery and heavy equipment.
II. Description of the Related Art
Advances in technology have provided for increased sophistication in the construction and heavy equipment industries. For example, many types of industrial equipment now include computers, wireless transceivers, positioning equipment and other sophisticated electronics. With the increase in sophistication comes a corresponding increase in equipment service and maintenance requirements. For example, most heavy equipment requires periodic maintenance after a predetermined number of usage hours. Thus, providing efficient service and maintenance has become an important goal for construction companies, leasing agencies, purchasers, and others in the heavy equipment industry.
Typically, heavy equipment is moved from job site to job site as needed with periodic or scheduled maintenance performed to minimize down time. Minor maintenance may be performed at the job site, while more complicated services may require that the equipment be moved to an authorized service station. Thus, it has become convenient to assign one or more administrative agencies, maintenance or service providers in a particular geographic region to be responsible to maintain and repair equipment in the region. Unfortunately, this arrangement doesn't work very well when the equipment is moved outside the region. For example, due to cost or logistical reasons, the equipment may be moved to a job site outside its current operating region.
Once the equipment is moved outside its current region, arranging for service and maintenance becomes a problem. Typically, the equipment is assigned to a service provider in a particular region who is responsible for providing maintenance and repairs for the equipment. The service provider generates reports (i.e., weekly or monthly) that list equipment it is responsible for and scheduled maintenance or service that may be due. When the service provider discovers that a particular piece of equipment needs maintenance or service, it locates the equipment and provides field service, or arranges for the equipment to be taken to a repair center in the region. However, if the equipment has been moved into another region, it may be difficult or very costly to get service personnel to the equipment, or to return the equipment to the repair center located in its original operating region. To overcome these problems, a service provider in the region in which the equipment is currently located may be contacted to service the equipment. For example, personnel at the original service provider view monthly reports about equipment for which they are responsible. If it is determine that a piece of equipment needs maintenance and is located outside its originally assigned region, then the personnel at the original service provider may call a service provider associated with the new region and arrange for that service provider to provided the required services to the equipment.
Unfortunately, having to arrange for service in another region is inconvenient, expensive, and may result in one or more other problems. For example, the service provider in the new region may fail to provide the required services. Alternatively, the responsibility for the equipment may be completely transferred to the service provider in the new region. This requires that the service personnel at the original service provider manually transfer (i.e., fill out forms, update computers, etc.) responsibility for the equipment to the new provider. In addition, the appropriate administrative groups (i.e., accounting) may also have to be notified. This may result in more problems because the transfer may be done incorrectly or appropriate groups may not be notified, and in the confusion the equipment may be assigned to multiple service providers in different regions.
Therefore, what is needed is a system that operates to dynamically assign equipment to regional groups and one or more service providers to provide services for equipment as it is moved from region to region. Such a system should also be able to dynamically un-assign groups and service providers as the equipment is moved outside of a particular region.